Traumatic brain injury: epidemiology and rehabilitation in Ireland

Traumatic brain injury (TBI, informally known as head injury) is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide1. Neither the number of people affected by TBI, nor the severity of the disability caused, in Ireland, is known. This makes it hard to plan the specialised neuro-rehabilitation services, which are under-developed and under-resourced here2.

The primary aims of this study are

to study how people get to, and use, care for TBI, including rehabilitation, and compare this with international best practice;

To describe the number of people with TBI, their injuries, and the long-term effects;

to assess the burden of TBI on health services, on people with TBI, their families, and society.

to see how TBI happens, and look at ways of preventing them 3;

to present the new scientific knowledge, in way that can be used directly by patients, families, and health services to buld better care for TBI;

Our study has 5 pieces -

We will use existing routine data to identify the number of cases of TBI in Ireland, by looking at health service use and deaths.

We will use existing data and including data from selected service's records, to look at the need for rehabilitation and the current rehabilitation services, and compare with these international standards.

We will do a large survey of survivors from those studied in Number 2, to describe current care, and the burden of TBI, on patients, and families.

We will study the severity of TBI, from these records and the surveys.

We will use all of these data to examine the circumstances of these injuries.

This will build a better scientific and clincial understanding of the conssequences of TBI, and care for TBI, in a way that can be used to improve care